How does this sound for rep this year?

[nanabush]

Hey guys,

Just found out I got 90% on my jury!  They recommend you get at least 85 to be guaranteed to stay as a performance major, so I was damn relieved when my teacher let me know.  We've been looking through some repertoire for this year.  I have a 45 minute recital, and then a jury consisting of 3 etudes and a Concerto (really strange, but it ends up being quite a bit of music for one year).

We were thinking:

For the recital:

Bach - Prelude and Fugue in B major book 2
Beethoven - Sonata Op 78
Chopin - Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante
Scriabin - Vers la Flamme

For my jury:

Ravel - Concerto in G major
Chopin - Etude Op 10 #1
Debussy - Etude for 'degrees Chromatiques'
Ligeti - Fem #8

At my university, the department is notorious for having a lot of students play the same pieces in the same year (last year 4 people played Jeux d'Eau, 3 people played the Chopin Ab Ballade, and a handful of people played Preludes by Debussy).  I think nearly everyone has had to learn Un Sospiro in one year or another.

I was trying to have a program of pieces that are known, but aren't overdone.  I wanted to play the Chopin G minor ballade, but I already know of another student who chose this...

My teacher suggested the B major, because it has a nice opening, and is enough as a standalone baroque work (the fugue is pretty intense).

I'm not fond of massive sonatas (I have a lot of trouble completing them) and I didn't want to dwell on a 25 minute Classical work all year and then whip it up last minute.  The F# is beautiful, and is extremely concise (and B major leads into it really well!).

The Scriabin would then kind of create some tension that I'd want in the recital.  I really think the mood of this would stir up the the audience haha

The Chopin, honestly, I've only heard it once or twice (was my teacher's suggestion), but the ending is massive!  I highly doubt anyone else will pick it (Ballades/Scherzi are going to be played for sure), and it would be such a good ending in my opinion.

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For the Concerto; I've done a few movements from Mozart Concertos (and looked at randoms on the side), but I really want to play some Ravel this year, and that is for sure one of my favorite concertos.

The Chopin Etude I've already gotten through, but would like to completely finish it and use it as a competition choice.

The Debussy is really interesting and really made me rethink what I knew about chromatic passages (without completely destroying my dignity).  This one I think will be really useful for fast fingering in any sense.

Ligeti was suggested by my teacher (again, I doubt he will be a first pick by others), and I've been listening to them alot and have the notes for them.  I've looked at a few, and many of them are completely way beyond me; the Fem seems really cool, and I really like the harmonies from the superimposed fifths.  I like that this etude isn't as much about insane technical demand as it is about patterns and logical connection of them.  This one I think is really cool, because it's completely a rhythmic difficulty (there are some clusters in it, but that won't stop me!)



...

Anyways, those are my impressions of the pieces!  Let me know if you'd have some suggestions (mainly for the romantic recital piece; I'm still undecided about the Chopin... but would need something ~15 minutes).  Also, if anyone has played these pieces, give some insight!  I love reading ramblings about pieces I'm working on  

[contrapunctus]

Definitely drop the Chopin. It is the Liszt centennial so play some Liszt! Everyone at my university is playing Liszt this year so it is kind of odd that ya'll aren't.

My suggestion for Liszt is to do the early experimental works that no one knows but are crazy awesome like the 3 Apparitions and the early 1835 Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses (the same name as the more famous cycle). But I am a musicologist and I like the rare stuff. If not try the late transcriptions! Or whatever.

Instead of Skryabin you could go even rarer to Mosolov or Roslavets to make your program more interesting (and more exciting!).

I hate programs that rely on chronological or other simple contrasts. Make your programs say something with effective comparison! Like comp lit, you want to try to reveal new things through enlightening juxtapositions.

The Ravel concerto actually works well with 2 pianos somehow, so it is good pick.

[liszt1022]

Stick with that Ligeti! The hardest part's going to be memorization. Ligeti allows you to add your own accents wherever you think it'd be rhythmically interesting, so figuring out where you'd like those to go might help keep it more organized as you're learning it.

I've played Beethoven Op. 78, it's pretty fun with no serious technical issues, but I had to give extra attention to the LH runs in mvt 1 (esp towards the end) since it gets pretty awkward.

I second adding some Liszt on his bicentennial year. Mephisto Waltz #3 is a late, uncommon, and interesting piece, so is Valse oubliee no. 3. They pair well (I'd put VO3 first and MW3 second.)
My favorite late transcription is on Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.

[pianisten1989]

I also think you should add a Liszt piece. Btw, who's next year?

[iratior]

Congratulations nanabush on doing well for the jury.  I'm glad to know you contemplate doing the B-major prelude and fugue from WTC book II.  Don't you just love it when Bach takes a melody that seems most unfriendly as a subject for a fugue, and makes it go?  As on May 7, 1747, for Frederick the Great ...  Now if it were the book I B-major fugue that would be no joke because it's one of the ones that has a trill in the subject!  For the prelude -- if standard fingering for a B-major scale somehow gets tedious, there's always 12345123, I discovered.  I gather you don't mind rhythmic complexity so much;  why not do the Chopin 3-against-4 etude in F minor?  It appears not to be played so often.

[kelly_kelly]

Maybe Vallee d'Obermann or one of the Legendes instead of the Chopin?

[nanabush]

Ah, so many good suggestions!  I was reluctant to pick a Liszt this year because I had done two major Liszt the last two years (Vallee d'Obermann and Mephisto Waltz #1).  I'm not sure if my teacher will want me to have another Liszt for a third year in a row (well, playing Liszt is fine, but as my 'substantial' romantic work they might want a bit more variety year after year). 

An Opera transcription would be pretty neat too... I'll have to contact my teacher soon 

The Ligeti is actually kind of fitting together well!  I might [actually] post a recording of that when I eventually finish it.  I've only been working on the first two pages, but it's so relieving seeing that the two hands always eventually phase back together. 

I've only really looked at the Ab Nouvelle etude; I'm pretty good with the three I've picked (The Op 10 #1 I might switch out and do another if my teacher wants me to start one BRAND new), but the Nouvelle Etudes would be a good idea too!